Tampa rolls out welcome mat for GOP delegates

Updated 12:17 am, Monday, August 27, 2012

Claire Simpson and Oscar Poole, both of Georgia, arrive at the 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee's welcoming at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., Sunday.

Claire Simpson and Oscar Poole, both of Georgia, arrive at the 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee's welcoming at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., Sunday.

Photo: Chris Urso

Tampa rolls out welcome mat for GOP delegates

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Crowds of reveling Republicans partied to a fantasy theme at their GOP convention host party at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where harem belly dancers, live flamingos, Scottish nobles in tartans, Roman soldiers, pirates, and clowns on stilts cavorted with the crowd of thousands.

The party crowded to take pictures with their smart phones as characters from nearby amusement park Busch Gardens threw out Mardi Gras style beads to attendees.

And then there was the menu: GOP faithful dined on paella, chicken and mango salad, whole roast pig with a variety of barbecue sauces and Cuban sandwiches.

Media got better fare upstairs in their own bar, with coconut shrimp, fried brie and quesadillas.

Republicans also crowded what seemed like hundreds of open bars pouring rivers of wine and beer as well as Bacardi rum and Grey Goose vodka drinks in red, white and blue.

Shannon Magrane from "American Idol," who had the unenviable job of singing to a crowd more interested in lining up for make-your-own-nachos.

Sharon Dale, an alternate delegate from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, credited Tampa with rolling out the welcome mat.

"The food is wonderful," she said, before advising guests just streaming into the party to "find the roast suckling pig."

The whole pigs were just on display; no one was carving them up for dining delegates.

Brad Bailey, the Houston-based founder of the Texas Immigration Solution, which lobbied the state and national GOP platform writing committees for a temporary foreign worker program, said he was impressed by the opening festivities.

"Tampa rolled out the red carpet," he said, adding that the city "recognized this convention is bigger than the super bowl."

In Texas, he noted, a sports event might take priority.

Anthony Vargas, a recent George Washington University law graduate who is headed to Austin to work for the land commission, gave the drinks and food a thumbs up.